The T3000 from MPC Computers has wireless capability and plenty of connection ports to complement its biometric security.

Even at first glance, it's apparent the MPC TransPort T3000 is designed with security in mind. MPC pioneered the integration of fingerprint recognition technology in high-performance notebook PCs, and the T3000 is no exception.

The built-in TouchChip silicon biometric device by STMicroelectronics of Dallas is located next to the keyboard and comes bundled with software that makes it easy for users to create, edit and manage biometric policies on the notebook.

Jay White, MPC's portable products group manager, said the T3000 also was built 'with the needs of government organizations in mind, and specifically incorporates features requested by our government customers.'

Security isn't the only benefit to government users. The dual-spindle T3000 comes with integrated IEEE 802.11b and g wireless capability, including an on-off switch on the chassis of the PC, and up to 2G of 333-MHz double-data-rate synchronous dynamic RAM added to the 2M of Level 2 cache, which comes standard with the 1.6-GHz Intel Centrino processor.

Much of the speed of the T3000 comes from its standard ATI Mobility Radeon 9600XT video card, which adds 64M of dedicated video memory to the mix. Coupled with an integrated Gigabit Ethernet card and four USB 2.0 ports, it's hard to find something this PC can't do.

The T3000 is flexible enough for office and mobile use. Capabilities such as the six-in-one card reader'which lets users move data on and off such devices as Compact Flash, Secure Digital, multimedia cards, Sony memory sticks and SmartMedia cards'can be useful on the road.

Weighing roughly 5.5 pounds and measuring 13 by 11.2 by 1.44 inches makes the T3000 small enough to fit on most airplane tray-tables. But it's big enough to let you work on a document or view a presentation on the 14.1-inch or optional 15-inch LCD screen with native resolution of 1,400 by 1,050 pixels.

Likewise, the T3000's unique ability to let you swap batteries without saving your work and powering down the machine puts it above the average notebook.

And at $2,045 for a configuration that includes 512M of RAM and a 1.6-GHz Pentium M processor with a 60G hard drive, the unit fits many agency budgets.